Campus Tour: Borough of Manhattan Community
College

Go for the Classes, Stay for the Extras

If students at Borough of Manhattan Community College spend a lot of time hanging around campus, who could blame them? After all, the college is located in Tribeca, one of Manhattan's most artsy and charming neighborhoods. It's just a short walk from the Hudson River Park and River Promenade, stretching from Battery Park City to the Chelsea Piers and beyond; trendy art galleries; hot restaurants and chic boutiques.

For BMCC students, lower Manhattan is their playground. It's also full of internship opportunities. The college has worked with Wall Street, City Hall and BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center to create a unique range of opportunities and resources for the students.

BMCC is CUNY's largest community college, with 22,500 undergraduate and 10,000 continuing education students, and is also its only one in Manhattan.

Founded in 1963, it originally focused on preparing students for business careers but now boasts 27 academic programs including nursing, multimedia technology, engineering science, criminal justice, forensic science and paramedics.

The college's main campus, at 199 Chambers St., is on 4.28 acres shaped like a ship. There are state-of-the-art labs, a library, one of the most advanced media centers in the country, and a newly renovated swimming pool. Students gather in open lounge areas that extend the length of the building and look out onto the Hudson River.

The newly renovated Center for Continuing Education and Workforce Development is at 25 Broadway, in lower Battery Park.Next year, the college expects to open the new, 14-story Fiterman Hall at 30 West Broadway. Fiterman was damaged during the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and later demolished.